Space regulator nod must for using non-Indian satellites from April 2025

The government has issued an advisory to satellite television broadcasters to seek authorisation from India's space regulator IN-SPACe for using non-Indian satellites from April 1 next year.

In May, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) issued Norms, Guidelines and Procedures (NGP) for the implementation of the Indian Space Policy-2023 which states that only IN-SPACe authorised non-Indian satellites will be allowed to provide services in the country.

"With effect from April 1, 2025, only IN-SPACe authorised non-Indian satellites/constellations in any of the frequency bands shall be permitted to enable provisioning of their capacity in India, the advisory issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said, quoting the relevant section of the NGP document.

The existing arrangements/mechanisms/processes for provisioning of capacity in any of the frequency bands (C, Ku or Ka) from the Non-Indian Satellite operators can be extended till March 31